An alternative course
by the one that will not be named
Summary: Two years after a fire that nearly killed her and her brother, Kari is send off to summercamp. She ends up in the digital world along with the others.Can she handle being so far away from her brother? Or is he closer then she thinks?
1. Chapter 1

And so it begins… another fanfiction, brought to you by Ron! Who still doesn't own Digimon.

* * *

An alternative course

Prologue

Smoke rose from an apartment building as flames illuminated the dark night. Firefighters from neighboring cities had shown up as well, as Odaiba's own just couldn't hold their own against the massive inferno.

"Someone please! My children are still in there!" A women cried out, grabbing a firefighter by the shoulders. "Please, get them out of there!"

Off all nights that something could happen, why this one? Tai had volunteered to babysit his little sister, so his parents could have an evening to themselves.

"Don't worry ma'am, we're doing the best we can." The firefighter said as Yuuko let go off him. "Do you know where they are?"

"Fifth floor, nr 512." She managed to utter, her thoughts clouded by the thoughts of what would happen if they didn't manage to save her babies. "We'll find them." The man said, putting his mask on.

* * *

"Big brother. I'm scared…" Kari whimpered as the flames came closer and closer to her and her brother.

"I know Kari, just stay as low as you can." Tai vaguely remembered someone saying that before, that in case of fire you had to stick to the floors as smoke tended to rise. Or something like that, he wasn't really paying attention.

Off course, now he wished that he had paid attention. Seeing how the fire began to burn through the roof and walls made him wonder why the hell he didn't.

'Oh right, soccer practice.' That was the only thing going through his mind back then.

He was brought back to reality by the creaking sound of the building, along with the cries of his sister

"Don't cry Kari." Tai said, holding his sister close to him. "They'll come rescue us, I promise."

"You do?" Kari sniffed. Tai nodded, praying to whatever god was listening that that promise was one he could fulfill.

And then everything collapsed around them.

* * *

"No!" Yuuko yelled out as she saw the two top floors of her home collapse. Susumo had to hold her back as she attempted to run into the crumbling building herself.

"No don't!" He yelled. "Let go off me! Let go off me!" She struggled to get free but Susumo refused to let go off her. "Listen to me." He pulled her around so she'd look straight at him. "I know that you want to get in there and save them, I do too but we'd only get in the way! Let the professionals do their work!" He yelled that last bit louder then he had intended, showing that despite his relaxed façade, he too was having difficulty staying calm.

Yuuko's eyes began to tear as she threw herself into her husband's arms. "I'm just so scared. What if we never see them again?"

"We can't think like that." Susumo said, stroking her hair gently. "We have to keep faith."

* * *

Firefighter Sho Hida wasn't having a good day. First his car broke down and now he was fighting off the biggest fire in Odaiba in ten years!

But he promised that women something. He'd save her children. After all, he too had become father a few years ago. He didn't want to know how he'd feel if something like this happened to Cody.

'509…510…511…' He checked all of them for any other survivors but found none. Apparently 510 was still uninhabited and 509 and 511 weren't home when the fire broke out.

"512!" The door was partially blocked by debris, but nothing he couldn't move out of the way.

He busted the door open, only to find that the entire apartment was burning. Red and yellow flames consumed the humble home.

"Hello!" He yelled out. "Anyone here?!?" With a bit of luck they were still conscious.

No reply.

"Shit." He grumbled as he moved towards the closest door, kicking it in. No one there but fire, spreading throughout the entire room.

Same for the next door, nothing there.

'Well, third one's a charm.' He said to himself, kicking it open. Apparently this was the kids' room, seeing the remains of a bunk bed.

'Bingo!' He thought, seeing a huddled form in one of the corners.

The roof had partially collapsed, surrounding the children. Luckily it got stuck halfway, else they'd be crushed.

Sho quickly made his way through the flames, hoping his outfit would protect him from the searing heat. Heck, even if it didn't, what's a few burns against two innocent lives, right?

Picking the form up he noticed that the older boy was shielding his sister against the flames. 'Brave kid.' He thought as he swung both unconscious forms over his shoulder.

Sho managed to escape the residence with his two rescues. Once outside and back in the hallway, he pulled out his radio. "Captain!" He yelled, hoping that he could hear him over the roaring of the flames. "I found two children. I'm coming out now."

"Hurry up." The captain's voice cracked over the radio. "The entire building is about to collapse."

Sho made his way down, the same way he came up. Luckily the staircase hadn't taken much damage yet.

"Get an ambulance here!" Sho yelled as he exited the building. Paramedics immediately rushed to him, relieving him of his precious cargo.

"Tai! Kari!" Yuuko yelled, seeing the paramedics carry her children off towards an ambulance.

"Let me in there!" She yelled at a man who tried to block her way. "Those are my kids and I refuse to leave them alone!" The paramedic quickly moved aside, allowing Yuuko to enter the ambulance.

With flashing lights and siren sounding throughout the night it drove off towards the hospital.

* * *

And there we have it, the prologue of An alternative course. One of the plot bunnies force me to write this and I think that it could become something great :)

Reviews make me happy!


	2. Chapter 2

Ron still doesn't own digimon...

* * *

An alternative course

And so it begins differently

Kari hated hospitals. Really, she did. It wasn't the doctors or the smell of medicine that permanently crept around here. Nor were it the seemingly endless hallways that gave one a claustrophobic feeling.

No.

It reminded her off what happened two years ago. How she and her big brother were rushed off towards here, barely conscious. At least she was still somewhat conscious.

"Hi big brother." She said as she entered the room.

'beep-beep-beep'

That was the only response she got from within the room. One of the devices attached to Tai was the only source of sound in the entire room.

She sighed and sat down on a chair next to her brother's bed. She stared at the white walls of the room. They always seemed so lifeless.

"I'm going to summer camp." She said to her brother. "I'm leaving in a while, so I won't see you for a few weeks."

No real reaction but Kari knew her brother was listening.

"But I think it'll be fun." She said. "At least Sora's coming too. Remember Sora?"

Off course Tai would remember her. She came to visit him too. Nearly every week actually. She was one of the best friends he ever had. Why would he forget her? Just because he was in a coma didn't mean that he suddenly had amnesia.

That was the price of shielding his little sister. In doing so he had inhaled a lot more fumes and smoke then she did. That combined with the searing heat of the flames was too much for him. He was ten at the time. Far too young to be trapped in his own body, perhaps never to wake up again.

"I think Matt's coming too." She said to her brother. "He's a bit weird, don't you think? His hair defies gravity even more then yours" She giggled.

Kari had taken it upon her to come talk to Tai every day. Doctor Kido said that it might help awaken him out of his sleep.

"Who else is coming…" She thought out loud.

"Well, my son is coming along too." A man said as he walked into the room.

"Oh hi doctor Kido." Kari said, smiling at the blue haired doctor. She liked him. He had been Tai's doctor for the past year and according to him Tai could awaken any minute now. Only thing Kari wasn't sure off was if he really meant it or that he was just trying to make her feel better…

"How is my favorite patient today?" Doctor Kido asked as he pushed his glasses up a bit. They always tended to slide off to the tip of his nose if he wasn't careful.

"Not much activity today doctor." Kari said.

"The same as always then." He sighed as he pulled out a pen and wrote something down on his

"So Joe's coming too?" Kari asked. She had never actually met the boy but doctor Kido had told her about his son. He was a year older then Tai and from what she heard he seemed like a nice guy. Terribly shy though. And nervous. And allergic to pretty much everything…

"Well doctor, I'm off." Kari said. "Mom's probably waiting outside for me."

"Off you go then." The doctor said.

"You have my number, right?" She asked, looking up at him. "Call me if anything happens to him, okay?" Actually mom and dad wanted to send her to summer camp to take her mind off of Tai. But she'd be damned if she was kept out of the loop about her big brother.

"You'll be the first to know." Joe's father said. "But off you go now. Have fun there." He said, gently pushing the nine year old out of the door. Kari opened her mouth to protest. "Hey wait, I still haven't said goodbye to Tai yet."

She quickly ran over to Tai's bed and gave her unconscious sibling a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon, okay?"

With that done she bid her goodbyes to the doctor and a few of the nurses she had gotten familiar with over the years.

"Poor thing." Nurse Garland, one of the younger ones said to her colleague. "Yeah but you have to admit. That boy has one dedicated sister." The doctor's words were true, as Kari had spend nearly all of her free time with her brother. Her parents were nearly forced to give her a cell phone and a key to their new apartment as she usually went from school immediately to the hospital.

* * *

"You ready to go?" Kari's mother asked as Kari opened the door of the car. "Do I have to go?" Kari asked one last time.

"Yes, you have to." Yuuko smiled. "You need to spend some time with people your own age you know."

"I know." Kari muttered. She was looking forward to summercamp, even if she didn't show it. There was just this constant nagging feeling that she should be by Tai's side all the time. After all, he had always protected her, so now she had to do the same for him.

It didn't take all that long to get to the camp site. It was actually just a few miles out of Odaiba. Heck, you could walk to there if you wanted too. But it might be dangerous though, seeing how you had to cross a bridge or two to get out of Odaiba... The car was a safer way to get there.

"Okay then." Yuuko said as she stopped at the entrance. "Have fun dear. You're taking the bus back, right?" Kari nodded.

"Good." Yuuko said, kissing her daughter on the forehead. "We'll miss you. Have fun!"

With that said Kari stepped out of the car. She picked her bag up from behind the seat and swung it over her shoulder.

"Bye mom!" She waved as her mother drove off.

'Let's see…' She turned around to see the other kids there. Kari looked around to see if she recognized anyone. 'Don't know don't know.' She looked the other kids over. 'Also don't know. Ah there's a familiar face.'

"Sora!" She waved at the helmet wearing girl. Kari never figured out why she always wore that thing. Maybe Sora feared that the sky would come crashing down? Who knows.

"Oh hi Kari!" Sora yelled, motioning Kari to come to her.

Kari smiled. Summer camp might not be as bad as she thought it would be.

* * *

Two days later.

Kari wasn't wrong. She had fun here. But the damn nagging feeling that she felt in the back of her head wouldn't go away. She sighed.

Today wasn't very interesting. There were canoe races but she wasn't allowed to enter, seeing how it was for those older then twelve. So she had stayed in bed for an hour longer, before climbing out and putting on her yellow, way to long t-shirt with matching pink shorts. She picked up her necklace as well. It was just a bit of string with a whistle on it but to Kari it was so much more.

Kari had found herself a tree tall and sturdy enough to sleep in. She was a light weight but still, one can't be too careful when sleeping in trees. It ain't exactly fun when it collapses while you're catching some z's.

Kari closed her eyes again as she tried to clear her mind of any negative thoughts when she suddenly felt something cold fall on her nose. She opened her eyes and rubbed her nose.

"Odd." She said, seeing the small flakes of snow gently drift downward.

"Snow? In July?" She heard a voice below her say. 'Matt.' She thought as she sat up in her tree.

Kari quickly made her way down as the gentle snowfall began to turn into a blizzard.

Nearly as soon as it had started the snow stopped falling from the heavens. And the entire camp grounds were covered in a thick pack of snow.

"I'm going to build a snow man!" TK yelled as he saw the snow. Matt quickly followed, intend on making sure nothing happened to his little brother. His mother would kill him if he ended up with a cold or something worse. "Hey TK, wait up!"

"It's freezing." Sora said as she too left the warmth of the cabin. "And I didn't even bring a jacket." But she wasn't all that concerned with it all. It had been ages since Sora had seen some real snow, and not the kind you saw at the mall, you know: the fake kind.

"This is beautiful." Kari said as she too left the cabin. 'Wish Tai was here to see this.' She thought as she beheld the winter wonderland. Well, summer wonderland actually.

"I was afraid of a summer cold, but this is just plain ridiculous!" A blue haired boy behind her yelled out. No body really paid any attention to him or his complaints. Especially not Mimi, who just scolded herself for forgetting her fluffy pink snow boots at home. Even in the summer one needs to look fashionable, right?

"Hey, what's that?" TK asked, pointing upwards. A beautiful spectacle of light had begun in the sky. Colors moving towards and away from each other in a mystifying dance.

Kari was stunned to see such a thing here. She quickly ran back to the cabin but didn't stop looking at the demonstration of nature's glory.

"Eh… boy with laptop!" She yelled into the open door. "You should come and see this!"

Izzy, looked up from his computer screen. He decided to humor the little girl and come see what was going on. His laptop didn't function anyway.

"Coming." Izzy said as he closed his laptop. "And the name's Izzy."

"I'm Kari." Kari said, motioning Izzy to hurry up. "You coming or what, else you'll miss it!"

Izzy snapped his laptop shut and followed the brown haired girl.

"Wow." Was all he could mutter.

"Are those the northern lights?" Sora asked.

"Impossible." Izzy said. "We're way too far south to see those."

"Tell that to the snow." Matt kicked a bit of the frozen stuff up.

"I tried but it won't listen to reason." Kari said as she watched the snow drift down again at a slow pace.

"Okay then, since we've all seen the light show, shouldn't we be getting back inside? Else we'll all end up with pneumonia." Joe said, rubbing his arms to keep himself warm.

'Been there, done that.' Kari thought. Amazingly she had been cured of her illness almost entirely. She was about to comment on it when suddenly all hell broke lose.

A portal of sorts appeared behind the curtain of lights.

"What do you think that is?" Sora asked, not actually expecting an answer, seeing how that thing couldn't truly be from their world, right?

She was proven right as seven red lights shot out of the portal.

"Whoa!" Was the unified yell from the campers. Well except for Joe, who's yell came out more like a frightened whine…

The seven meteors crashed into the snow near the septet of children. Snow was blasted upwards and temporary blocked all view from the group.

"Everyone okay?" Sora asked, getting the snow off of her clothes.

"We're fine." Kari said. "I think."

"I knew I should have brought sunscreen." Mimi said, looking down into one of the holes the meteors had struck.

"How high a factor do you need to protect yourself from meteor strikes?" Izzy asked, fascinated by the fact that seven unidentified objects had crashed near them. If only his laptop worked. He'd immediately put this on his blog.

"About a million." Matt said, as he sat on his heels, to take a closer look at the site of impact. "What the hell?"

Out of the seven holes in the snow rose glowing objects.

After a few gasps of wonder everyone grabbed the things, before they floated out of their reach. Joe had to jump up for his, seeing the fact that he was a bit too stunned to immediately grab it.

"What do you think this is?" TK asked, showing the digivice to his brother.

"I don't know." Matt said as the white tool began to emit a high pitched squeal. "But it sure is loud."

"Anyone got a manual?" Mimi asked.

Suddenly the water from the nearby lake rose up without reason, in the form of a tidal wave.

"Screw the manual, anyone brought a surf board?" Izzy yelled over the roaring of the water.

The huge wave split in half vertically and formed something somewhat but not entirely unlike a waterfall, seeing how the water flowed horizontally and inwards towards a chasm of water.

The seven chosen ones were pulled into the rapids with a tremendous force and as soon as it had opened up, it disappeared again.

Kari didn't know what to make off all this. A bunch of psychedelic colors flashed before her eyes as she traversed the borders between two dimensions.

Her senses went haywire as she had no idea what was up or down, left or right. Soon she hit unfamiliar soil and blacked out, finding solace in the darkness.

* * *

"Kari."

Odd, Kari could have sworn she heard someone call her name.

"Kari!"

A bit louder now.

"Hey Kari!!"

Kari opened her eyes and sat up. She rubbed her head and sat up. "What a weird dream." She muttered. "I could have sworn I fell down a waterfall of sorts."

"Hi Kari!" The same voice from before yelled at her.

"Oh hello!" Kari said back, trying to find the source of the voice. After all, it sounded friendly enough.

"Eh, where are you?" She said as she stood up. She saw trees, plants and shrubs but no humans.

"Down here!" The voice again. Kari looked down to see a head laying at her feet. One with cat ears and a tail. Kari blinked once. Twice. Three times.

"Eh…" She didn't know what to say about this.

"Hi Kari, I'm Nyaramon, nice to meet you." The head apparently had a name. and it knew her name as well.

"Eh… it's nice to meet you too?" Always stay polite, that's what mom told her.

"Excuse me, but what exactly are you?" Kari was confused. After all, there weren't any talking heads in Japan, right?

"I'm your partner!" Nyaromon yelled from the top of her lungs.

"Okay…" That didn't answer her question really. "And what is this place?" The amount of green in this place was nothing like that at the camp.

"You're in the digiworld!" Nyaromon said, hoping around a bit. "We've all been waiting for you!"

"Okay." Kari had no idea what the digiworld was actually but at least she knew where she was now. And why was an entire 'world' waiting for her?

"Hey Nyaromon ?" Nyaromon looked up at the human being. "Did you see any other humans here?"

"Humans? Like you?" Kari nodded.

"Nope." Kari hated that answer. What if she was all alone in this place? Sure, Nyaromon was with her but she wasn't even sure that she should even be talking to her.

"And what did you mean that you were waiting for me?" Kari asked. Nyaromon was about to answer when she was cut off by a new voice.

"Hey Sora! I found another human!" A pink flowery digimon hopped out from between the trees.

"Kari? You here too?" Sora asked as she walked out from between the trees.

"Yep." Kari answered, looking the newcomers over. "But I wish I knew where 'here' exactly was…"

"That's easy!" Yokomon yelled. "You're in the digiworld!"

"Right…" Sora said. "Not much help Yoko. Oh, and by the way: Kari, this is Yokomon: my own personal something."

"Nice to meet you friend of Sora!" Yokomon seemed like a rather cheerful radish-like creature.

"So there are more of them?" Kari asked.

"Off course there are." Nyaromon said. "It would be rather boring with just me here."

"Well that's true." Sora said, seeing the catlike digimon at Kari's feet.

"So are there any more of you around here?" Sora continued, asking both Yokomon and Nyaramon.

"Well, there's that guy." Yokomon said, pointing at a rodent like digimon that seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Where did he come from?" Kari asked.

"Hey Tokomon! Wait up!" A boy's voice came from behind a huge shrub. Moments later TK, the youngest of the camp dwellers appeared with a huge grin on his face. "TK, wait for me." Matt tried to sound as relaxed and cool as possible as he chased after his little bother, eh brother.

"Hurry up Matt!" A ball in matt's arms said to him. "You're such a slowpoke."

"I am not!" Matt argued with his passenger.

"So you too?" Sora asked. The answer was obvious off course.

"Indeed." Matt said. "Meet Tsunomon."

"Pleasure to meet all of you." Tsunomon seemed a bit calmer then any of the other digimon they had encountered thus far.

"Nice to meet you too!" Kari said to the horned digimon. She began to develop a liking to these strange creatures that seemed to pop up from everywhere.

* * *

"You think Mimi and those other kids are here too?" Matt asked as their tiny group made their way through the forest on file island.

"I don't know." Sora said.

"They did pick up those things that fell from the sky." Kari said. She felt around her pockets and found the white gizmo. She put it back in her pocket. Kari didn't know if it had any meaning but it could be the reason they all got here in the first place.

"They did." TK supplied. "That tall guy nearly missed his one!"

"I don't think we'll find anyone else just by walking through this forest you know." Sora said. "Isn't there any place higher up?"

"There's this tree." Kari said, quickly climbing it with ease.

"Aah! Kari! Get down from there!" Sora yelled at the nine year old. After all, without Tai around it was her task to look after his little sister.

"Why?" Kari asked, hanging upside down from a branch. Before Sora could complain she had already climbed back up and towards the top.

Once there she pulled out her telescope. Well actually, it was Tai's. It was a bit charred but still worked like a charm. Even though her mom told her not to bring it she brought it with her to camp. It reminded her of her brother.

As she looked over the island with the telescope she hear a few sighs and complaints as her 'partner' joined her in the tree. "Do you see anything interesting?" Nyaramon asked.

"Not really." Kari said. She saw trees, rocks, more trees and the ocean. "Wait, what is the ocean doing here?"

"Well it can't be too far away." Nyaramon said, balancing on a thin branch. "We're on File Island after all."

"File Island?" Kari asked. "I don't think I've ever heard of that place before."

Kari looked through the spying glass again, hoping to catch a glimpse of any other humans or possibly any other cute island inhabitants.

What she saw was a gigantic red beetle like creature flying their way. "What is that?" She asked as it came closer.

"Oh dear, that's Kuwagamon!" Nyaramon shrieked. "He's a nasty digimon."

Kuwagamon immediately noticed the intruders and flew downwards, planning on cutting the human in the tree down to size.

"Aah!" Kuwagamon sheered off the top of the tree, sending it crashing down to the ground, nearly crushing Matt and TK.

"Kari!" Sora yelled up. "We've got to get out of here!"

"Coming!" Kari yelled, trying to make her way down from the tree again. The severed branches that blocked her way made it hard and it took a lot of time to get past them.

"He's coming back!" Nyaromon yelled as Kuwagamon turned around mid flight and came back for round two.

Nyaromon didn't know what to do. Her new friend was in danger but she was too weak to take on Kuwagamon.

Kuwagamon let out a terrible roar as he swooped down again. Nyaromon braced herself and jumped at the champion digimon.

"Bubble Blow!" She yelled as she 'flew' through the air, sending countless bubbles towards her opponent.

Well normally Kuwagamon wouldn't be affected by this. He's a big bad champion digimon while Nyaromon was just an in-training level. But getting bubbles sprayed into your eyes never did anything good you know.

With Kuwagamon partially blind, he wandered off course half way through his dive and crash landed in a nearby tree.

Kari and Nyaromon used this distraction to get the hell out of the vicinity.

"Nyaromon." Kari started as she ran after Sora. She had picked up the in-training, seeing how it would travel faster. "You shouldn't pick fights with big monsters like that."

"I know." Nyaromon said. "I just wanted to protect you."

For some reason, Kari couldn't help but think off her brother. He did his best to protect her too, even if it killed him.

"Thank you." Kari said quickly, trying to banish her thoughts a bit.

Another roar signaled that Kuwagamon had escaped his tree and was probably chasing them again.

"Man, doesn't that thing ever give up?" Matt asked as he stopped for a second, so TK, Sora and Kari could catch up.

"Well, Kuwagamon is a very persistent digimon." Tsunomon said.

"Good to know." Matt said. "So he'll just keep on chasing us?"

"Till the ends of the digiworld." Tsunomon said.

"Then we've got to hide somewhere." Sora said.

"Yeah but where?" TK asked as he panted a bit. He wasn't used to running like this.

"In here!" A pink blob of sorts jumped out of a tree and waved at him.

"Does anyone else see a pink gumball over there?" Matt asked.

"Yes." Sora said. "Come on! Come on!" The gumball motioned for them to come closer. "Quickly in to the tree!"

"The tree?" TK asked. "It's a hiding tree." Tokomon explained.

"That makes sense." Matt said as he stepped into the tree, revealing it to be an illusion of sorts.

Once all eight of them were in the tree, Kari noticed another boy there.

"Oh hi…" She had to think hard about his name. She had only heard it once after all. "Izzy. Right?"

Izzy nodded. "That's right but keep it down for a while." He warned. "That huge bug is still out there."

"Right." Kari whispered. All five of them kept quiet and stayed down till they no longer heard the noise of the insectoid digimon.

"You think he's gone?" Sora asked cautiously. She wasn't sure. Perhaps he had gone into stealth mode or something like that.

"I think so." Yokomon said.

"What was that thing?" Izzy asked. "And seeing you all here, I assume you too got dragged into this." Izzy barely knew any of these kids. He had seen some of them in school but that was it.

"That's right." Matt said. "We're all here."

"And that thing was a Ku-wa-ga-mon." Kari said all the syllables seperatly as she started to discover a pattern in their names.

"Do all of your names end with 'mon'?" She asked the creatures.

"Off course they do." The pink thing said. "My name for instance is Motimon!"

"I noticed that too." Matt said. "Why do all your names end with mon?"

"Because we're digimon!" Nyaromon, Yokomon, Tokomon, Tsunomon and Motimon yelled out at the same time. "We're digital monsters!"

"Digi…mon?" TK asked, trying to place the word somewhere. He didn't think he had heard it before though.

"I don't think that word is in my dictionary." Izzy stated. "But I'm willing to find out more about you creatures." That's Izzy for ya, always curious.

"Sounds neat but can we get out of this imaginary tree now?" Sora asked. "I'm starting to get cramps in my back from standing here." After all, the hiding tree was built for weak and defenseless in-training digimon. Not humans.

* * *

"So Kari, did you see anything in that other tree?" Matt asked. He disapproved of her climbing that tree as much as Sora but since she had been up there anyway…

Kari shook her head. "Almost nothing. Except that big beetle thing and the ocean."

"The ocean?" TK asked. Kari nodded. "That's not possible." Sora said. "We're supposed to be somewhere near Odaiba, remember?"

"Might I remind you that this place looks absolutely nothing like the forest near Odaiba ?" Izzy said, pointing out the obvious. "Unless the forest was actually build on a nuclear dump."

"That would explain the big beetles." Matt said.

"Brilliant!" Izzy yelled out. "It's all a government conspiracy!"

Before Izzy could go on in detail about his latest theory he heard screams.

"I know those screams." Matt said.

"Aahh!!" A blue haired boy came running out of the forest.

"Oh thank God! Other human beings!" Joe yelled as he nearly slumped to the ground. "There are these things here! They fly and they're incredibly annoying!"

"Who are you calling annoying?" A grey critter appeared on Joe's shoulder. "There it is again!" Joe pointed at it in an accusing way.

The others sweat dropped as Joe did his best to get away from the floating digimon. Eventually he gave up on it.

Bukamon popped up on Joe's shoulder again. "You'll have to excuse my buddy Joe here." He said. "He's a bit nervous around new people. I'm Bukamon by the way."

"How do you know my name?" Joe asked the digimon on his shoulder.

"Because I've been waiting for you Joe. Have been doing so for a long time!" Bukamon exclaimed.

Joe blinked a few times. "You have?" He asked. Bukamon nodded.

"We've all been waiting for you guys." Tokomon continued.

"But why?" Matt asked, confused by all of this. Wouldn't you be if six strange critters told you that they have been waiting for you in some strange world?

"Eh… does anyone remember why?" Motimon asked, scratching his bald head.

"Not really." Tsunomon answered.

"Okay…" Matt started. "We can keep the questions as to why we're here for later. First we should try to get to somewhere safe, incase any other crazy insects show up."

"Oh wait, we still have to introduce ourselves." Kari said. "She's right." TK continued. "We know all of your names but you don't know ours yet."

"Sure we do." Tokomon said. "You're TK!"

"Eh I think he meant the others." Motimon said to the digimon at TK's feet.

"Right, My name's Kari." Kari said, introducing herself to the digimon. "That's Sora over there." She pointed at the helmet wearing girl.

"And that's Matt." She continued.

"No autographs please." Matt answered, acting too cool. As always.

"I'm Takeru. Just call me TK." Takeru said.

"And he's…" Actually Kari had no idea what to call the blue haired boy.

"Eh I'm Joe." Joe lifted his hand in greeting.

"So you're Joe? Joe Kido?" Kari asked. Joe nodded. "I knew I recognized you from somewhere. Your father told me about you."

"You know my father?" Joe asked.

"Eh-hum." Izzy cleared his throat. Apparently he didn't like to be ignored.

"Oh right, that's Izzy." Kari added.

"Do any of you know where the nearest hotspot is?" That one question was Izzy in a nutshell.

"Well it's nice to meet all of you." Nyaromon said.

"Wait, did we get everyone?" Sora asked. "I've got the feeling we're forgetting someone."

"I know who you mean." Joe said. "The girl with the hat. What's her name?"

"Mimi?" Matt suggested. He wasn't entirely sure if she was the one Joe meant. But how many other girls with big hats were there at camp?

"That's the one." Sora snapped her fingers. "Where do you think she is?"

"Well, knowing Mimi, she's probably around here somewhere picking flowers." Izzy said. He had met Mimi a few times before but didn't really know her al too well.

"Aaah!!" A scream was heard.

"That's her. I think." Matt said. "There might have been a bee on those flowers." TK added.

"Aahh!" Mimi came funning from between the trees and towards the small open spot where the digidestined had gathered. Hot on her trail was a hopping seedling of sorts. Kari figured it was a digimon as well.

"Mimi!" Matt yelled. "Don't worry, they're harmless!"

"You call that harmless?!?" Mimi pointed upwards, showing that Tanemon wasn't the one she was running from. Apparently Kuwagamon came back for round three. Persistent vermin…

Kuwagamon flew over them, apparently scared off by the huge group of digimon and humans showing up out of nowhere.

Unlucky for the digidestined, Kuwagamon quickly got over his fear and began to turn around to have another go.

"Don't worry Mimi. I, Tanemon, will protect you!" The seedling with feet was still running after her protégé. Mimi just slumped down.

"Hey, Mimi. It's okay, he's gone." Sora said as she walked up to the hat wearing girl.

"Oh Sora." Mimi said as Sora helped her back on her feet.

"Here he comes again!" Matt yelled as Kuwagamon's roar filled the air again.

"Run!" Joe yelled, immediately setting the example for all to follow.

And there they were, running from an flying enemy throughout a forest that Kuwagamon could easily chop down with his scissors.

"Get down!" Matt yelled, pushing his little brother to the ground before diving down as well. The others followed suit as Kuwagamon flew over them once more.

"This thing just won't give up!" Joe whined. "I don't want to end up as bug food!"

"Come on Joe." Izzy said as he helped the blue-haired boy up to his feet. "if we don't keep moving, we will end up in his stomach and I for one, don't feel like getting digested just yet."

"Crap, dead end!" Mat yelled. Well, actually it wasn't a dead end. it was just a twenty meter drop down into a raging river.

"Get back, quickly!" He yelled to the entire group.

But it was to late. Kuwagamon had already cornered them there.

His jaws clicked in anger, sure signs that he'd use them to cut them all up into bite sized chunks.

"Great, now what." Joe asked as he moved backwards, closer to the edge of the cliff. Kuwagamon clicked his jaws a few more times. "Man, I wished I brought my bug spray." Matt commented.

"We have to fight back." Kari said. She was tired of running. And the only way to get rid of a bully like Kuwagamon was to show him that they weren't afraid of him.

"What?" Sora asked. "We can't fight him, he's too big."

"No, she's right!" Yokomon yelled.

"We have to stand and fight!" Nyaromon yelled.

But seeing Kuwagamon's viciously sharp teeth up close reminded Kari of how strong he was.

Kari suddenly started to reconsider her initial idea off fighting back. Nyaromon struggled against her to get away and fight off the big red beetle but Kari held her firmly. She didn't want to lose her new friend so quickly.

"Let me go let me go!" Nyaromon yelled as the other in-training levels did the same. Bukamon nearly lifted himself and Joe up in to the air, trying to escape.

"Let me at him!" Tokomon yelled, baring his enormous shark like teeth.

"You too, Tanemon?" Mimi asked. Tanemon just nodded.

"No!" Tsunomon broke free from Matt's grip as did all the others.

"You can't win!" Izzy shouted as Motimon slipped from his clutches.

"Tsunomon, get back here!" Matt tried his best but Tsunomon was determined to protect his new friend.

"Tanemon! Be careful!." Strange enough, only Mimi believed that they had a fighting chance.

"Tokomon!" This one was the only one that Kuwagamon feared, mildly. Tokomon has teeth like a great white you know. They rip through solid steel at moments.

"Turn around!" Joe yelled at Bukamon. Sure he was annoying but Joe couldn't stand to watch him throw his life away, for someone like him of all things.

"Nyaromon!!" Kari just yelled, hoping that it would make her see reason and come back to her.

As the digimon charged, seven lights began to burn on seven digivices, strapped to belts, backpacks or other places.

The sky turned dark but from the heavens above them descended seven pillars of rainbow colored light!

"What's going on?" Izzy asked as the digivices began to emit a high pitched squeal.

"**Yokomon digivolves to… Biyomon!"**

"**Motimon digivolves to… Tentomon!"**

"**Tsunomon digivolves to… Gabumon!"**

"**Tokomon digivolves to… Patamon!"**

"**Nyaromon digivolves to… Salamon!"**

"**Bukamon digivolves to… Gomamon!"**

"**Tanemon digivolves to… Palmon!"**

The light faded and there stood seven new digimon, bigger and stronger then before, strengthened by their determination to protect their new friends.

"They… got bigger?" Joe said, confused by what the hell just happened.

"Digimon! Attack!" Gabumon yelled out.

With a new look came new powers as Biyomon flew into the air and screamed: "Spiral Twister!" Sending a spiral of burning green energy towards Kuwagamon.

"Blue Blaster!" Gabumon yelled out, burning the beetlelike monster with cerulean fire.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon drew in air as he grew twice as big as normal, before sending the pressurized air towards Kuwagamon, nearly causing him to crash into the cliff.

Kuwagamon had had enough of this and decided that he'd be the bigger mon for once and fly away.

"Going somewhere?" Palmon asked before attacking. "Poison Ivy!" Eights vines grew from her fingers and pulled Kuwagamon down again.

Once their opponent was on terra firma again, Salamon and Gomamon opted for a combined attack.

"Sledge Dash!"

"Flutter Kick!"

Both digimon crashed into one of Kuwagamon's hind legs, forcing him onto his knees.

"Supershocker!" Tentomon yelled out, sending a high voltage coursing throughout Kuwagamon's body.

Needless to say, Kuwagamon was stunned, humiliated and disoriented from all the attacks.

"Alright, everyone together now!" Salamon yelled out, preparing for her Slide Dash attack once more.

The others readied their attacks and fired, aiming their attacks at Kuwagamon's head. That combined with Salamon's Sled Dash and Gomamon's Flutter Kick, knocked Kuwagamon down and back into the forest.

"Yeah!" The digidestined cheered as they saw Kuwagamon go down.

"That was amazing!" Kari yelled out as Salamon ran up to her.

"So how about that Super Shocker, huh?" Tentomon boasted his mad skills.

Joe was too stunned to actually say anything. He was way to busy with pushing his glasses back up and admire Bukamon's new look.

But their celebration was cut short as Kuwagamon came back from his the forest, very pissed off I might add. He knew that he couldn't beat the combined strength of those seven rookies but he could do something else. Which was cheating.

He slammed his mandibles into the cliff, breaking it off.

Cracks ran through the ground as the digidestined huddled towards the end of the cliff, hoping that it wouldn't break off.

Which off course it did.

The slab of rock dragged the seven humans and seven digimon into the depths, leaving them unsure if they'd ever see one another again.

* * *

And there you have it. the first real chapter of AaC. I appreciate all of the reviews the prologue got and they inspired me. I know that this chapter looks a lot like the original but it'll get more different from the real show later on.

And with a new fic, comes a new poll.

**This is very important!**

**I want to know if I should get the digidestined digimon other champion and ultimate forms! Not all of them off course but it would spice things up a bit.**

**So vote my minions! I mean reviewers!**

**Should some digimon get other forms: yes or no. I'll keep the ones with new forms a secret off course.**

**Reviews!**

Kai-XCrunner4life: thanks

Marie ravenclaw: yes, somewhat different indeed. And I didn't know Cody's dad was a cop, couldn't find it anywhere on the internet. (gasp!)

Princessjaded: I'm glad you like my crazy plots ;)

Depthmon: I'm not commenting on that! This interview is over! Not really. I just needed something new to vent my ideas. And If all goes well you'll get a new update for SoA and BH tomorrow, okay?

Confusius: this is indeed an AU 01 fic. I went out from the idea: what if Kari, instead of Tai went to the digital world? And I'm not really sire, as I haven't seen tamers yet. I'm planning on doing so soon though.

GRX3m0m: thank you and I will

Crystalform: Hope you like this one.

Beth: well, you'll have to find out, cause I'm not telling.

Firehedgehog: I will, don't worry.

R&R peoples! And don't forget to vote!


	3. Chapter 3

Ron is sorry for not updatig sooner! And he still doesn't own Digimon. (And he should stop talking in third person)

* * *

An alternative course

The arrival of Flymon

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhh!!" Ever fell down a cliff? Trust me, when you do that sound will be the only thing coming out of your throat. Seven kids and seven digimon were currently falling from one of the more fragile cliffs of File Island. Reason for that was a pissed off Kuwagamon, who as a last attack, had slammed his powerful mandibles into the cliff where he had cornered the digidestined.

Amongst the falling there were few that were able to save themselves. Patamon, Biyomon and Tentomon could fly. But they were also doing their best to keep their partner humans in the air. A hard task that neither of them was strong enough for.

"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, wrapping her vines on one hand around Mimi and the other imbedded into the side of the cliff. For a few seconds Mimi was able to think that she was safe.

That was until the slab of rock broke off of the cliff.

I told you it was the frailest cliff around.

Kari was one of the first to hit the water, the impact upon it feeling like hitting concrete. She hovered somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness as she slowly went under.

"Kari!" Salamon yelled over the sounds of the raging river. She dove under. Moments later she reemerged, her jaws biting down on the back of Kari's shirt.

Meanwhile, Gomamon had had enough. "Marching Fishes!!" He yelled out, sending an inaudible pulse throughout the water. No human or digimon could hear it but to the digi-fish it was like a beacon, summoning them for a rescue mission.

The fish schooled together under the digidestined, effectively lifting them out of the water.

"What the hell?" Joe asked as he looked at just what he sat on. "Pretty cool huh." Gomamon gloated.

"And here I was, thinking I was allergic to fish!" Joe yelled out. "Eh Joe, is your skin supposed to be filled with blue bumps?" Sora asked.

"What?!?" Joe began rubbing his skin, trying to get the 'blue bumps' away.

"Eh…" Sora, Mimi and Matt sweat dropped. "I don't think he knows you're joking Sora." Biyomon said.

* * *

Meanwhile, Kuwagamon was shaking his fist angrily at the digidestind. Doing so he failed to notice that the ground underneath his feet was crumbling as well. As it collapsed he was drawn with it to the bottom of the river.

If he survived this, he'd get his revenge on the humans, even if it was the last thing he'd do!

"Hey eh seal like digimon." Izzy said, pointing at Gomamon. "Thanks for saving us from drowning but eh what the hell are we surfing on?"

"The name's Gomamon. And we're surfing on the digiworld's biggest fish-filled boogeyboard." Gomamon said, pointing at the raft.

"Right…" That didn't exactly explain much. It was hard for Izzy to grasp that a bunch of fish would suddenly swim so close together just because of one sea mammal's orders. But he was still alive and relatively dry, so who's complaining?

* * *

"Everybody alright?" Matt asked once they got back to dry land. "We're fine, I think." Joe said, the skin of his arms red from all the rubbing he did, before realizing that it was just a joke.

"Kari isn't!" Salamon growled as she dragged the girl onto dry land.

"Let me take a look at her." Sora said. She bend down to examine the brown-haired girl. To her relief it appeared that Kari was regaining consciousness.

"Eh, what happened?" She asked, coughing up some water afterwards. "We fell down a cliff and you nearly drowned!" Salamon blurted out. "But I saved you!"

"You did?" Kari looked at the doglike digimon sitting next to her. Kari stood up and examined her partner digimon. "You're not Nyaromon anymore, right?" She concluded. After all, the other digimon had cat ears and a cat tail. Also it lacked limbs…

"That's right, it's Salamon now!" Salamon said, proud of her achievement.

"I'll take it that you're no longer Motimon then?" Izzy asked, trying to make sense off what was going on around him. After all, it wasn't exactly normal that your newest friends turn into badass fighters, right?

"Correct you are Izzy, I am Tentomon now." Tentomon said.

"Same here, I'm no longer Yokomon, I'm Biyomon now." The bird like digmon explained.

"Wait, so if you 'became bigger', does that mean you're something else now?" Joe asked, hoping that the annoyance that was called Bukamon was gone. "Nope, not really." Gomamon said. "We may look different but we're still the same on the inside!"

"Great…" Joe mumbled. "Oh cheer up Joe, you didn't think that the Bukamon you know and love was gone right?" Gomamon smiled.

"Well, you do look a lot cooler now." Matt said to his own digital partner. "What did you say your name was again?"

"Oh right, forgot to introduce myself." The rookie said. "My name is Gabumon."

"Gabumon huh?" Matt repeated the name. "Sounds cool enough."

"So can you really fly with those wings Patamon?" TK asked the rookie. "Off course I can!" He yelled. "I just don't feel like it at the moment." He said in his defense, seeing how earlier he was barely able to lift himself of the ground, let alone save TK from falling to his death.

"So Palmon, who does your hair?" Mimi asked. "I mean your leaves." She corrected herself.

"Nobody." Palmon said happily. "I just wake up like this in the morning."

"Really?" Mimi asked, stunned to hear that such a thing was even possible.

Palmon nodded. "It's true."

"Wow that's cool." TK said. "When Matt wakes up his hair usually looks like an exploded mattress." Truth comes from the mouth of a child, right?

* * *

"So any clue off where we're supposed to go?" Matt asked. The stream had carried them close to the ocean, leaving them the choice. Either jump on another raft made of fish or stay ashore and see where the path would take them.

"I say we go back to the forest." Joe said. "If anyone's looking for us they're bound to start there."

"True." Izzy said. "But given the fact that we just came tumbling down a cliff and got swooped down a river means we won't be able to get back there."

"Who said anything about going back there?" Joe pointed to the river. "There's a forest right there!"

The thirteen digimon and humans looked at where Joe was pointing, to see... barely anything at all.

"Eh Joe, those are a few trees." Sora said. "Hardly a forest."

"I think we're close to the ocean." Gomamon said, sniffing the air. "So why not go there?"

"Good idea." Salamon said. "Wait, what are we looking for again?"

"Any signs of intelligent life." Izzy said as the group followed Gomamon towards the digital sea. "What do you mean 'intelligent life'?" Tentomon asked. "Are we not intelligent?"

"Sorry Tentomon, I didn't mean it like that." Izzy said, realizing his mistake. "I meant humans, you know like us."

"Oh you won't find those here." Salamon said. "What do you mean?" Kari asked.

"Oh simple, there aren't any humans here, never have been till you showed up." Salamon looked up towards her partner human.

"Never?" Kari asked and got a nod from Salamon. "Never."

"Oh yeah, then how do you explain this?" Joe asked as the group found their way to the beach, following the seal like digimon's nose.

Strangely enough there were phone booths. Real life phone booths.

"Wait a minute." Sora said. "That doesn't make sense. Why would there be phones in the middle of the beach? And so many of them?"

"To call our parents?" TK wondered.

"I'm agreeing with TK." Matt said. "They've got to be here for a reason, so let's try them."

"I'm calling daddy!" Mimi yelled as she took off to the nearest phone cell, Palmon running after her.

"Maybe these phones have something to with the government conspiracy." Izzy mused. "Does your government really create so many conspiracies?" Tentomon asked. Actually he had no idea what a government was but at least this way he would find out more about his new friend.

"Well, I don't know." Izzy admitted. "Mostly because of the lack of evidence. But you never see them politicians denying anything either."

Tentomon sweatdropped. "That doesn't make any sense."

"That's what they want you to think." Izzy said as he pulled out his phone card.

* * *

"Congratulations. You are the one millionth two hundred thousandth four hundredth twenty third caller of this number." A voice came though Matt's horn. "You win nothing at all!?"

"What planet did I dial?." Matt said as he hung up again.

* * *

"By the time you realize that this message isn't providing you with any information at all you will have wasted five second of your life."

"Did mom read that off of a fortune cookie or something?" TK wondered as he thought of ways to get those five wasted seconds back.

* * *

"Sorry but this number doesn't exist on your planet. If you wish to make interplanetary calls, please insert about ten thousand quarters."

"Damn, I only have two left." Sora muttered.

* * *

"Can I take your order?" A barely audible voice was heard out of Joe's receiver. "Eh what now?"

"You want fries with that?"

* * *

"This isn't making any sense." Mimi said into her horn. "Neither do you honey." A women on the other side said. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

* * *

"Hey Kari, why aren't you calling anyone?" Salamon asked. Kari shrugged. "I don't think I have any money on me. And apparently no one is having any luck either."

"True." Salamon said. "But maybe you will have better luck?" Salamon offered.

"True, we'll never know if I don't try." Kari admitted as she rummaged through her pockets, trying to find any loose change.

"Nothing… wait…" She pulled something out of her pocket. "Never mind, I found something better!" She lifted her cell phone up to the skies.

"What's that?" Salamon asked, having never seen something like that before.

"It's a cell phone." Kari explained. "With it I can call anyone from anywhere."

"Even from here?" Salamon asked.

"Only one way to find out." Kari answered, unlocking her cellphone.

'Who to call… who to call…' She thought. Perhaps her mom? Or dad? Who else could she call at a moment like this. 'I know.'

The screen lit up as she selected the number.

'Calling doctor Kido.' Was visible on the screen.

"Come on, pick up." Kari whispered as she began pacing around. It had been a few days since she left for camp and she hadn't bothered to check up on Tai in that time. Off course, Tai wasn't going anywhere soon but still, who knew what could happen while she wasn't there to protect him?

And then it came, the click when someone answered their phone. "Hello? Doctor Kido?" She asked.

No response. All she heard were some cracking sounds, with the occasional modem like sound.

"Nothing." She said sadly.

* * *

Meanwhile in the real world.

"Hello?" Doctor Kido spoke into his cell phone, expecting a reply. Kari had called him but he didn't get a reply as he spoke. "Odd." He said as he pushed the red button, terminating the call. "She must have bad reception at camp." He said to his patient. "But at least she's trying to check up on you Tai." Tai didn't move at the mention of his name.

"If only all of us had such devote siblings." Doctor Kido said with a sigh.

Back in the Digital World.

* * *

"Any luck?" Matt asked, getting negative nods from everyone.

"I checked nearly all of them." Joe said. "All they do is sprout some nonsense about weather forecasts and flying cows."

"Same here." Sora admitted.

"Mine wasted five seconds of my life." TK said. "I want them back." He crossed his arms. "Don't worry TK, I'll find them for you!" Patamon reassured him.

"Stolen seconds of life aside, did any of you get any sort of reasonable answers?" Izzy asked.

"I didn't get anything at all." Kari admitted. "I tried to call doctor Kido but all I got was some static and beeps."

"You called my dad?" Joe asked.

Kari shrugged. "He seemed like the best choice at the moment."

"I think we have a lot to talk about." Joe said.

* * *

"Okay, phones and crazy voices aside for now." Matt said, deciding to take the leader position upon him. "Even if anyone is looking for it'll take days for them to find us."

"True, especially seeing how we floated down river from our original location." Izzy added.

"So we'll have to survive here for a while." Matt said. "First of all we need to find food and shelter."

Sora nodded. "Those are the most important."

"You've got nothing to worry about." TK smiled as he took off his backpack. "Check it out!"

The contents of the bag seemed to be made off nearly entirely out of candy, snacks and other things that would lead to a heart attack.

"What's all of that?" Patamon asked, having never seen packed food before. "This is food from where we come from."

"More like junkfood." Matt said, taking one of the bags out of the backpack. "Does mom really allow you to eat this?"

"Not entirely." TK smiled nervously. "Don't worry little bro, I won't tell."

"But still, as good as TK's stash may look, there's not enough for all of us." Izzy said. "But it's a start. Does anyone else have something useful?"

"Don't think so." Mimi said as she opened up her own bag. "Let's see, matches, a compass,…"

Matt, Izzy, Sora and TK's eyes went wide as they saw what Mimi pulled out of her bag. "Wow, Mimi. I didn't think you'd come so prepared." Sora said.

"Yeah, what are you going to pull out of that bag next? A tent?" Matt joked.

"Eh no. It didn't fit in this bag and seeing how this one was the only bag that matched my outfit, I had to leave it home."

"Wow."

Mimi then proceeded to put all of the stuff back till they needed it.

"We still don't have any other food though." Sora said. "And I'm getting hungry."

"I smell food." Biyomon said. "Yeah me too!" Palmon added.

"Joe's bag!!" Matt exclaimed. "Joe's bag?" Izzy asked as Joe looked back at them, hearing his own name been called.

Matt ran over to Joe and tried to take the bag from him. "Sure, now all of a sudden you want to carry it. When I asked you this morning you refused too!" Joe held on to the bag for dear life.

"Yeah sorry about that Joe, but we just realized that you're the one carrying the food." True, seeing how it was camp policy that one out of ten kids were designated to carry the emergency bag, in case they ever got lost.

"Fine, take it then." Joe said, pulling the digivice from its strap first. It felt important to him, for some reason.

"Now where were we?" Joe asked, seeing how he lost his train of thought when Matt interrupted him.

"I was telling you about my brother." Kari said. "Oh right." Joe scratched his head. "Dad told me about him a few times. He's been in coma for quite some time now, right?"

Kari nodded. "Nearly two years."

"Kari?" Salamon asked. "What is a 'coma'?"

"It's like you're sleeping, only you don't wake up for a long time." At least that was how they explained it to her.

"Oh." Salamon gasped. It sounded like a terrible virus that had struck her partner's brother. "How did he end up like that?"

Kari sighed. She didn't really want to tell that story again. But Salamon, being her new friend deserved to know.

"Two years ago, a terrible fire broke out in my apartment building." Kari started.

"I read about that." Joe cut in. "It was in all the newspapers back then."

"Right." Kari's somewhat angry look made Joe shut up. She didn't like being interrupted.

"Mom and dad were out, so Tai was looking after me." She had to stop there for a second. Salamon, sensing the discomfort her friend was in snuggled up to her. "You don't have to go on, if you don't want to."

"No." Kari said, stroking the puppy like digimon's ears. "I'm fine, and I'd have to tell you anyway."

"When that fire broke out me and my brother were trapped by the flames. They just came out of nowhere." She said, her voice shaking a bit as she remembered those terrible times.

'_Big brother, I'm scared'_

_-_

_'Don't cry Kari, they'll come rescue us, I promise' _

Kari shook her head, clearing it off those memories. "The room collapsed around us, trapping us inside. Tai… Tai shielded me with his own body."

Kari sighed. "When mister Hida found us it was to late for him. He saved us both but Tai had breathed in to many toxic fumes. That and his burns nearly killed him." A single tear began to trickle down her left cheek.

"Wow." Joe said. It was the only thing he could utter after hearing that.

"Your brother is quite the hero." Salamon said.

"Yeah." Kari admitted. "But I can't help but feel guilty for his state. Because of me he's stuck in that bed."

"But if he hadn't saved you, then we would never have met." Salamon tried. "Well, that's true." Kari admitted. "You know, you kind of remind me of Tai."

"I do?" Salamon asked. "Yeah, he always protected me, just like you."

"Oh that." Salamon blushed.

* * *

"So seeing how there are seven of us times three meals." Izzy calculated. "We'd last three days with all of our food."

"Nice bit of math Izzy." Sora sighed. "But you forgot to add the digimon to the calculation."

"So with the digimon…" Mimi thought. "I don't think we'll last very long."

"About half an hour." Matt said.

"Oh don't worry about us." Gabumon said. "Yeah, we'll find our own food!" Palmon said. "We digimon are excellent foragers." Patamon added.

"You sure about that?" Sora asked.

"Off course we are." Biyomon said. "Fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, meat or roots. We eat everything."

"Well, no offence but screw your roots." Tentomon said, nibbling on a bunch of biscuits. "These things are much better."

Sora, Matt, Mimi and Izzy's eyes bulged. They hadn't even noticed that Tentomon had swiped their food.

"You ate our food?" Mimi asked.

"Well, not all of it." Tentomon defended himself. "I just ate one pack."

Izzy tapped his foot a few times. "Okay, three then."

Izzy sighed. "Well, I can't be mad at you for it. We're all hungry." Tentomon relaxed, thinking he was of the hook. "But next time just ask, okay?"

"Sure thing Izzy." Tentomon promised.

Meanwhile Gomamon was floating on his back, a few meters from shore. This was his favorite pastime ever. One can forget all of their worries when they float atop of the ocean's surface.

Unless of course they were swept away by the waves and ended up on some deserted island. Then your worries would just start.

Unfortunate for Gomamon, getting swept away to some tropical island was the least of his worries.

Unknowing to any of the digidestined they had entered the domain of a rather territorial digimon.

* * *

"Not good." Gomamon said to himself as he paddled back to land.

"You guys!" He yelled over the sound of the waves. "We've got trouble!"

"Where?" Joe yelled back, making sure that he had a way out of here if something like Kuwagamon showed up again. Unfortunately for Joe there was only one way out, and that was up the cliff.

While Joe was doing that, the others looked around for the threat, searching the sand around them. But other then their own group and those phones there wasn't anything there.

That was until water began to burst from the sand, destroying phone after phone in its way.

"What the hell is that?" Sora yelled. "I think it's Shellmon!" Biyomon yelled, pushing Sora out of the way of a falling telephone booth.

"What's a Shellmon?" Izzy asked once the water stopped spouting.

"Something that gets angry for no reason whatsoever." Tentomon said. "Unless you count invading his territory a reason." He added.

Suddenly the sand began to turn around in one location, sending it upward in a spiraling motion. Slowly Shellmon's shell appeared. The green spiked casing showed no weak spots at all.

Shellmon's ugly head moved out from its shell.

"Is that Shellmon?" TK asked, stepping behind his big brother.

"He looks like a demonic hermit crab to me." Matt said, making sure his brother stayed behind him at all times.

"Time to get the hell out of here!"Joe yelled before climbing the cliffs near the beach. For a big chicken like him, he wasn't all that bad of a climber. He nearly reached the top.

That was until Shellmon decided that his prey wouldn't get away from his that easily. With a well aimed pressurized water spout he knocked Joe down, causing him to fall back down.

"Joe!!" Gomamon yelled from in the water, feeling useless for not being able to help him.

Luckily for Joe, he landed on sand, which cushioned his blow.

"Joe? You okay?" Kari and Salamon ran up to him.

"I'll be fine once the world stops spinning round, right round, right round." Joe said as he tried to sit up. "Like a record baby." (1) He managed to utter before dropping back down.

"He'll be fine." Kari concluded, turning her gaze off of Joe and towards the threat.

"Spiral Twister!" She heard Biyomon call out. Too bad for Biyomon, she only managed to create a Spiral Wisp of flame, which died down immediately.

"Boom Bubble!" Patamon cried out, drawing in air. But the same story here. He just couldn't summon enough energy to convert the air into something more damaging. Both he and Biyomon were blasted out of the sky by Shellmon's water attack.

"Blue Blaster!"

"Poison Ivy!"

Gabumon and Palmon's combined attacks didn't work either. Shellmon just knocked them out of his way with one strike of his arms.

"Tentomon, you're the only one left!" Izzy yelled out. Four digimon were already down and two others could only fight close combat, so they were nearly useless for an opponent like Shellmon.

"I'm on it Izzy!" Tentomon yelled, flying towards his intended target. "Super Shocker!" He ried out, sending lethal amounts of voltage through Shellmon's body. But for some reason Shellmon didn't even appear fazed by the normally deadly attack.

"It's not working!" Matt clenched his fists. "Now what."

"I can do it!" Tentomon dodged one of Shellmon's tentacles. "Just give me a minute or two."

Tentomon flew around Shellmon, trying to find a weak spot. A crack in his shell, a huge blind spot or open wound. Anything would do!

But Shellmon wasn't enjoying the fact that there was a huge ladybug flying around him. He realized that even with his superior armor and thick skin he would eventually fall victim to the electrical attacks of Tentomon.

But before he took his leave he'd take a souvenir with him.

The tentacles on his head lashed out, grabbing whatever they could get their…. Eh things on.

"Aaah!!" Izzy yelled as the tentacles grabbed him, wrapping him up entirely. "Let go off me!"

"Izzy!" Tentomon yelled out, flying right at Shellmon's head. He began to slash at the tentacles but Shellmon grabbed him as well.

The beetle was trapped in between Shellmon's hands, who was slowly crushing the life out of him.

"Tentomon!" Izzy cried out, hearing the sounds of his friend's shell, cracking under the pressure Shellmon was applying to it.

"You guys! Run!" Izzy yelled at his friends. "There's no way we can beat him!"

"Izzy!" Tentomon yelled. "Hang on Izzy! I'll save you!"

"Aaagh!!" The tentacles wrapped harder around Izzy's body.

The others could do nothing but stare at their friend as the life was crushed out of him. They didn't dare to follow Izzy's orders to run. They had to save him. There had to be a way.

There was one way, but Izzy's faith wasn't in their hands.

Powered by Izzy's screams and the need to protect him, Tentomon began to glow.

He light up like a Christmas tree as his body began to warp.

"**Tentomon! Digivolves to…"**

Like all the others, Shellmon had to avert his eyes form the bright light, but he refused to let go off the rookie.

"… **Flymon!"**

For a moment nothing happened, leaving the digidestined to wonder what that lightshow was all about.

That was until a buzzing sound emerged from Shellmon's hands.

"Deadly Sting!"

Shellmon roared in pain as he let go off the trapped digimon. His hands were covered in red bumps for some reason.

But that reason became clear quickly as they all saw what had happened to Tentomon.

Where before he had looked more like a ladybug or any other beetle, now he looked like a bee. Or a wasp, more precisely.

Yellow and black stripped body, two pairs of purple wings and a huge singer to boot.

"Take this!" Flymon yelled out, sending more Deadly Stings towards Shellmon, who just groaned in pain. The poison on the spikes that Flymon fired at him wasn't deadly, not to him, but it was enough to make him lose focus and control over his body.

He dropped Izzy from his tentacle prison.

Flymon dove and grabbed hold of Izzy. "Tentomon is that you?"

"It's Flymon now!" The digimon formerly known as Tentomon said.

He placed Izzy down on the sand and flew back to Shellmon. "Time to end this!"

"Poison Powder!" He cried out, his wings flapping like crazy sending out greenish spores.

It was all getting to much for Shellmon. He crawled back into his shell and dug back into the ground while he still could. He too would get his revenge one day.

"Oh yeah, you better run!" Fkymon yelled. "Fly like a Flymon, sting like a Flymon!!"

* * *

"Wow." Matt said. "That was awesome!" TK yelled.

"Are you okay Izzy?" Joe asked. "I think so. Thanks to Flymon."

Flymon landed next to Izzy. He glowed and shrunk back into Tentomon.

"Thanks Tentomon." Izzy knelt down. "Oh it was nothing." Tentomon said.

"Nothing? You saved my life!" Izzy exclaimed.

"You'd do the same for me, right?" Tentomon asked. Even though he only knew Izzy since that day, he didn't need to hear the answer to that question. He already knew.

Izzy just smiled and answered anyway. "Off course I would."

"Hello? Operator? Operator!?"

"Eh, what's Joe doing with that broken phone?" Salamon asked. "I think he's trying to call a repairman." Kari laughed.

"But shouldn't we tell him that that thing is disconnected?" Sora asked.

"Nah, let him have his fun." Kari answered. "It's not like we've got somewhere to be, right?"

* * *

And so ends chapter two. Who saw it coming? That Tentomon would have to save Izzy from Shellmon?

Or that he'd change into Flymon?

I'll give you my explanation for that change too: 1, I just wanted to change a few digimon, seeing how it was a tie in the voting. 2, Flymon isn't really a Tentomon digivolution but Flymon's ultimate is soo awesome I couldn't help myself.

Also, I won't be answering the reviews today. It half past one now and I want to get in bed, okay? Though there is one, that I just have to answer. from Shinen no Hikari: I know they're OOc but this is Gatomon without Myotismon's influence. If she hadn't been enslaved by him she would have turned out quite differently. I'll answer the other reviews tomorrow or so, by review response, okay?

But thank you for all of them! I love each and every one of my fans!

And I apologize for the lateness of this chapter. But with all the homework and tests and exams next week, I barely know how I managed to write this.

Reviews make me happy!

AN

(1) You have to be from around the '80 to get this one. Or the '90, if you only know the covers


	4. Chapter 4

Still don't own it

* * *

An alternative course

The digidestined had found their way up a cliff, not too far away from where they had encountered Shellmon.

"Does anyone else think we should get off this cliff?" Mimi asked. "Remember what happened last time?"

"Oh don't worry Mimi, this time Kuwagamon isn't around." Palmon reassured her.

"Yeah but what of something worse shows up?!?" Mimi cringed at that thought, grabbing the sides of her hat.

"Worse then Kuwagamon?" Matt asked. "Is that even possible?"

"There was Shellmon." Izzy reminded him. "You know, that guy that we defeated an hour or two ago?"

"Right." Matt nodded.

"Speaking of Shellmon." Izzy turned to Tentomon. "How come you didn't stay as Flymon? You're awesome as Tentomon but even more so as Flymon."

"Well, get me another pack of those biscuits and I'll go Flymon again." Tentomon said, holding out his pincers.

"Eh you guys ate them all, remember? Before we left the beach?" They had decided that the digimon needed the food more then they did, seeing how they didn't have enough energy to fight off Shellmon.

"Oh yeah." Tentomon vaguely remembered something like that. "But still, I can't digivolve anymore today. My energy was depleted by it."

"Digivolve?" Kari asked. "Yup, that's when we get bigger." Salamon said to her.

"I think it's like some kind of upgrade." Izzy mused. "Only a temporary one."

"That's right." Tentomon said.

"Wait, so does that mean that all of you can 'digivolve'?" Matt asked. "Sure we can." Gabumon said. "We just don't know how, at the moment." He rubbed the back of his head.

"Okay…" Sora said. "We'll keep that topic till later, okay? First we should head look for a place to stay for the night."

"The night? What night?" Joe asked. "It's still bright out here. And who says that there's even a night around here?"

"Now that's just preposterous." Izzy said. "Such a thing would be totally unnatural."

"You call huge insects and evil hermit crabs natural?" Joe asked, wondering about the state of his friend's sanity.

"No off course not, but I'm just saying that if there weren't night around here there wouldn't be life either. Plants, digimon, everything here needs their rest you know."

"Okay, I'll give you that but until I see a moon I'm not convinced."

"Don't they know that they can just ask us about stuff like this?" Patamon asked Gomamon. "I don't think so."

"Should we tell them?" Biyomon asked.

"No way, this is way to entertaining." Gomamon laughed.

"Well standing here won't help us much." Matt said. "I say that we keep on moving."

"Good idea." Sora said. "Let's just hope we won't encounter any more monsters."

A thunderous roar was heard.

"You just had to say that, didn't you." Joe sulked.

Out from behind the rocks came a rhinoceros like digimon. He had black plates on his back and a mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Oh don't worry, that's just Monochromon." Salamon said. "He's rather nice."

"Bit grumpy though." Kari said as she saw him opening his mouth wide, baring his teeth.

"Actually, he's just tired." Gabumon said.

"You sure?" Matt asked, making sure that he could run at any given moment. Their digimon probably couldn't handle such a monster.

"Pretty sure." Gabumon said. "He won't harm us."

Just then another roar was heard, louder then the first one.

"But he might." Biyomon pointed at a newcomer.

A huge dinosaurlike digimon, a triceratops that learned to walk on his hind legs.

"That's Triceramon." Tentomon said. "We're dead."

"How did he get behind us?" Kari asked. It almost seemed like the green reptile had appeared out of thin air.

"No clue." Salamon. "Triceramon isn't exactly light on his feet. We should have heard him coming from miles away!"

"Great, so we're between a rock and a pointy place." Joe said, seeing the two digimon close in on them. Monochromon because he was defending his territory and Triceramon for trying to take over his territory.

"This just can't get worse." Izzy said, his hands digging into his hair in disbelief.

'Crack!'

The rocks before them split in half, revealing another monster.

"Me and my big mouth." Izzy cursed himself for saying such an obvious cliché.

From within the rock emerged another dinosaurlike monster. It looked exactly like Monochromon, only two times as big and it had a orange colour.

"Just great." Tentomon said. "That's Vermillimon."

"Vermillimon?" izzy asked.

"Oh yeah." Tentomon replied. "That thing's going to kill us till we're dead."

"Who else is opting for a tactical retreat?" Joe asked, panic clear on his face.

"To where Joe?" Matt asked. "Three sides are blocked by dinosaurs and the fourth is a deep dive into the ocean. I don't know about you but I didn't exactly bring my swimming trunks!"

While Matt was ranting he didn't notice what was going on.

"Hey look!" TK pointed at the three monsters. "They're fighting each other!"

True to his word the three monsters had no interest in eating them. They only wanted to fight over territory.

Too bad for Monochromon, he was only half the size of either ultimate and he was send running for his life after one strike from Triceramon.

"Time to get out of here!" Sora yelled over the roars of the two battling giants.

Following the way that Monochromon had used to flee, the digidestined made themselves scarce to allow the two ultimate levels to sort things out.

* * *

"That was scary." Mimi said as they arrived back in the forest.

"I agree." Matt said, sitting down against a tree.

"Are all other digimon so nasty?" Kari asked her partner, who shook her head. "No, most just mind their own business but there are others that are just plain mean."

"So we noticed." Joe said. "When I get back home, I'm getting monster insurance."

"Doubt that exists Joe." Sora told him.

"Well it should exist!" He raised his hands in frustration. "We've been attacked by four monsters in one day! And who knows what the night will bring?"

"Oh cheer up Joe." Gomamon said. "If some digimon eats you I'll save you."

"Great." Joe said sarcastically. "That makes me feel a lot better."

"Who would want to eat Joe?" Matt asked. "I mean, there's hardly any meat on him."

Joe scratched his head, wondering how and why he should respond to such a statement.

"Hey don't let that get to you Joe." Gomamon said to him. "There are lots of digimon out there that would love to eat you."

"For some reason I don't feel much better now." Joe began to wonder why on earth he got teamed up with Gomamon. The seal like digimon was everything he wasn't.

Joe sighed. He'd just have to learn and live with it probably.

* * *

"Hey… I smell water…" Gomamon suddenly said, sniffing the air. "Fresh water. Not too far away from here!"

Gomamon began to sprint along the path that ran between the trees and soon enough he arrived at a beautiful lake, the water glimmering in the fading sunlight.

"Gomamon!" Joe ran after the seal, wondering how a creature with paws like that could run so fast. "Wait up!"

"I told you I smelled water." Gomamon pointed at the lake.

"Wow…" Was the common thought amongst the digidestined. "It's beautiful!" Mimi exclaimed. "Almost like a postcard!"

Palmon nudged Salamon. "Do you know what a postcard is?" The puppy shook her head. "No, but it sounds dangerous. Think there are any lurking about?"

Palmon checked around her to look for any potentially dangerous postcards, with no luck. Luckily for her Matt provided both Salamon and Palmon with a distraction.

"Okay listen up." Matt started. "Night's upon us, so we'd better make camp here. I want all of you to look for food and firewood while it's still light."

The digidestined nodded and went off with their digimon to search the immediate area for food.

* * *

Matt sighed. "What's wrong Matt?" Gabumon asked, looking up at the teenager. "It's nothing." Gabumon narrowed his eyes. "No really, it's nothing. I'm just not really into this whole leader stuff."

"You handled it rather well, didn't you?" Gabumon asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"Perhaps but there's something missing. I think." Matt couldn't put his finger on it. He had enough confidence to be a leader but he lacked something… goggles? Perhaps. A certain drive behind his actions was a more plausible suggestion.

Oh well, he'd figure it out eventually.

* * *

"So… is this edible?" Kari asked her newest companion. "Not really." Salamon said, pointing at the red colored mushrooms. "Gomamon, spit them out!" She suddenly yelled as she saw Gomamon nibble on one.

Gomamon did as he was told, spitting out the fungus. "What?" He looked at the two girls. "I'm just curious."

"Yeah and curiosity killed the cat." Joe said. "Eh I mean seal… thingy…"

"Right…" Gomamon turned from Joe. "Which ones are edible then?" He asked Salamon.

"The purple ones." Salamon said, running towards a tree where a few of them were growing.

"Yeah, these look way more edible." Joe said, his stomach turning when he saw the sickly colored toadstools.

"Oh Joe, lighten up." Gomamon told him. "I'm sure they'll taste great." Gomamon popped one in his mouth. "But I could be mistaken." He quickly added as he spat the half chewed mushroom out again.

Joe rubbed his head, trying to stay calm in the presence of the seal like digimon.

"Idiot, you have to prepare them first!" Oh how Salamon envied Kari right now. At least she had hands. If Salamon could, she'd slap Gomamon over the head.

* * *

An hour or so later, everyone returned to 'base', which was actually just the rock Matt had stood on, giving them their tasks.

"Hey Matt, quick question." Sora started. "Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

"She's right you know." Izzy backed her up. "Sleeping out in the open would be a rather foolish idea."

"I hadn't thought about that." Matt said, putting down the firewood he had collected. "Damn, I can't believe I was that stupid… " He muttered to himself.

"Ooh! How about over there!" Mimi suddenly yelled, pointing at something in the lake. Or more precise, on the lake.

On a patch of land that stretched into the lake there was a… trolley?

"What's that doing over here?" Joe yelled.

"I don't believe it." Matt said.

"What I don't believe is the fact that nobody noticed it before." Izzy added his two cents. "Perhaps this government you keep talking about placed it there." Tentomon suggested.

"That's a plausible explanation." Izzy rubbed his chin in thought. "Perhaps they realized that we needed shelter so they provided us with it."

Most humans were about ready to slap both Izzy for his crackpot theories and Tentomon for fuelling said crackpot theories.

"Whatever it is, let's go and check it out." Matt said, leading the team over the thin 'bridge' between mainland and the island.

* * *

"Kinda looks like the ones back home." Kari said, sitting down on one of the seats. "Feels like those at home too."

"I could just fall asleep right here…" Mimi said, nearly dozing off already as she laid down.

"Don't you want to eat first?" Palmon asked. "Oh right!" Mimi jumped up again. "Almost forgot about that."

Matt scraped his throat. "I think we should eat outside and use this trolley as a sleeping place." He told them. "Also, somebody should stand on guard at all times. Who knows what kinds of creatures lurk around here at night."

"Oh not much actually." Gabumon said. "Only Vilemon, Devimon, SkullGreymon and the occasional Numemon."

All the occupants of the occupants of the trolley looked at him like he had grown several extra heads. "What?"

"Those things sound scary." Mimi said, gripping her hat in a nervous gesture.

"Nah, most of them are okay." Palmon reassured her. "Except SkullGreymon. He scares the crap out of me."

"That makes two of us." Gomamon added.

"Make that three." Biyomon said.

"Patamon, what's a SkullGreymon?" TK asked the flying rodent. "Something you don't want to encounter at all." Patamon told him. "That's all you want to know. Trust me about this."

TK decided not to ask anymore.

Soon the seven duo's were gathered around a blazing fire, thanks to a combined attempt of Biyomon and Gabumon.

A few fish on a stick were starting to burn up, so Matt quickly pulled them out of the fire. "Diner's served." He told his companions.

"Let's see if these things taste any better baked." Gomamon said, eying the mushroom with a critical eye.

"They will." Salamon said happily.

Gomamon took a bite, chewed it a few times and…

"It's. Delicious!!" He yelled out, taking another bite.

"Told you." Salamon said smugly. Joe decided to taste one as well. It wasn't that bad, though he wasn't really used to eating stuff like this. You know. 'Nature food' if you could call it that.

* * *

Soon the night had truly fallen. The stars above the digidestined shone brightly, though no astronomer on earth would be able to find any known constellations amongst them.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Izzy asked, looking up at the stars. "This almost proves that we're no longer on earth."

"I thought that giant monsters did that already." Mimi said.

"True, but look at the stars." He pointed up. "It doesn't make any sense. Even if we somehow ended up somewhere else on earth, we should still be able to recognize a few stars…"

"He's right." Kari said, pulling out her treasured telescope and gazed up wards. "Not even the North star…" Tai had shown her that star once, telling her that it could lead her home where ever she was. 'Good luck with that…' She thought as she searched some more.

Joe sighed. He was on guard duty for now. Matt had decided that all of them, save TK and Kari since they were the youngest, should stand guard for an hour and a half. At least Matt had had the decency to start out. And to bad for Joe he decided that the blue-haired boy was next.

He had allowed Gomamon to sleep some more. He may be annoying but he had saved his life today. Without his fishes all of them would have drowned.

Now that he thought of it… Kari had nearly drowned.

Her digimon partner had saved her but just barely. What if something else like this happened? What if next time Salamon wasn't around…

Off course all of them were in danger from this bizarre world.

Joe threw a rock at the lake, watching it skid across the surface a few times. He sighed. Life used to be less dangerous. To most people that is.

* * *

Meanwhile back in the trolley there was some stirring. Matt couldn't fall asleep. Not because of worry because he left Joe – of all people- out there by himself but because of the huge amounts of heat radiating off of Gabumon's fur coat.

"Gabumon." He said, waking the rookie digimon up. "Would you mind laying down over there? You fur is way to hot."

Gabumon groggily looked where Matt was pointing at. Right next to TK.

"Ooh. I get it. You want me to keep the little tyke warm, don't you?" He teased as he stood up.

"No…" Matt defended himself. "I just can't sleep when it's too hot." Good safe. After all, Matt had to protect his 'cool' persona.

"Sure thing Matt." Gabumon said, laying down next to TK. The boy muttered something in his sleep. Something along the lines of 'thanks Matt.' Though only Gabumon heard it.

* * *

Joe watched as another rock went flying past him and somewhat skidded across the water before sinking to the bottom. "Neat trick Joe." Gomamon said as he walked up to him. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Didn't think you'd want to stand guard." Joe said. Gomamon picked up another rock between his claws. "We're supposed to be a team now Joe." Gomamon told him.

He chucked the rock across the lake. It hit the water with a huge splash. "Next time wake me up, okay? Wouldn't want you to be all alone out here with the big scary monsters now?"

"Are you worried about me?" Joe asked, not really believing it.

"Nah, just don't feel like picking you out from between the teeth of some rabid digimon." Gomamon winked and picked up another rock.

"No, Gomamon, that's too big a rock to-

Joe tried to warn the seal like digimon but he had already thrown it half way across the lake. "Oops." He muttered as it hit the water with a huge splash.

"Never mind." Joe said. "Come on, I'll show you how to do it properly…"

* * *

Meanwhile underneath the surface of the water an entity woke up. Not per se an evil creature, just one that didn't like it when he was woken up from his beauty sleep.

Just as Seadramon was about to emerge from the water and complain about the damned rocks disturbing the water only to get hit right between the eyes with a flat rock.

"Oops…" Gomamon called out, as the snake like creature began to emerge from the water, seemingly growing longer and longer.

"What the hell is that!!?" Joe yelled out.

"Oh relax, that's just Seadramon. His ice breath stings a bit but over all he's a cool guy." Gomamon told him. "You're kidding, right?" Joe pointed at the flailing serpent.

"Well… he might be a bit angry for getting hit by a rock…" Gomamon added.

Seadramon's tail flailed around, slamming the ground where they stood. Joe and Gomamon were barely able to jump away to escape.

"A bit angry!!" Joe yelled out.

Seadramon's roars had awoken all the other digidestined as well, causing them to emerge from the trolley.

"What's going on?!" Matt yelled at Joe and Gomamon, who were still on the main land. "We pissed it off!"Gomamon yelled. "We? You threw that rock at him!" Joe yelled.

Their bickering was broken up by another strike from Seadramon, breaking the small bridge between the island and the edge of the lake.

"That's not good." Izzy said as the island began to shake. Seadramon's uncontrolled flailing had send it into drift. "Anyone brought a boat?" Sora asked.

"A harpoon would be better." Matt said, the serpent still towering over them. For some reason he had switched from trying to kill Joe and Gomamon to try and kill them.

"Oh man, we've got to do something!" Joe clenched his fists. He couldn't do anything right now. Fighting seamonsters wasn't one of his best skills.

"Aaaaah!!" A shout woke Joe up from his thoughts. Someone had screamed. Did Seadramon grab someone?

He saw a small figure in the water. "Oh hell no." He dug his hands in his hair. He had to do something. The others hadn't even noticed that Kari had fallen in the water. Seadramon's constant assault had caught her off guard and thus she fell into the lake.

"Joe! What are you doing?!" Gomamon yelled at the blue-haired boy. "You can't fight that thing!"

"Wasn't planning on it!" Joe yelled as he jumped into the water and did something he hardly ever did.

He swam. He swam like a fish. A half drowning fish but a fish none the less.

"Oh Joe." Gomamon sighed as he too jumped into the water and swam after his human partner.

He had to hand it to Joe. For someone that seemed terrified off everything he was quite the swimmer.

Soon Joe reached the drowning girl, pulling her up again. "Are you okay?" He asked. Kari coughed a few times. "I'm okay… I'm okay." She told him, coughing out a few drops of water. "Kari!" Salamon was doggy paddling in the water as well.

She had jumped in to save her partner from drowning (again) but was unable to get her out of the water.

"She's okay." Joe assured the rookie digimon.

Something snaked around his legs all of a sudden, pulling him out of the water. "Aaaah!!" Joe let go off Kari again and suddenly he hung upside down, suspended from a red fin of sorts that was wrapping around his entire body.

"Joe! Hang on buddy!" Gomamon yelled from the water. "Bad choice of words Gomamon!" Joe yelled as he swung about like a pendulum.

"Don't be such a stick in the mud Joe." Gomamon growled, before returning to his original task. "I'll save you!"

"No! get Kari out of the water first!" Joe yelled as he was pulled skywards as Seadramon decided that he and his new pet human were going for a boat trip.

Gomamon grumbled. He did as he was told and grabbed hold of Kari and pulled the dazed girl towards the small island.

Once on there Gomamon immediately ditched Kari and ran as quickly as he could to follow Seadramon from the island.

"Kari, are you okay?" Salamon asked, worried to death by now.

"I'm fine… I think." She coughed up some more water as she started breathing more steady. "Guess you had to save me again, three times in one day, right?"

Salamon shook her head. "Joe and Gomaon were the ones that saved you. The island was too steep to pull you back on land. They had to help me."

"But where is Joe now," Kari asked, not seeing the doctor's son anywhere.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh!"

"Over there." Salamon said darkly. "Seadramon grabbed him.

'No!' Kari yelled in her mind as she saw the seaserpent race by their side of the floating rock with Joe still firmly locked in his tail. The poor kid was screaming his lungs out.

"We've got to do something!" Kari told her partner digimon. "I don't want to keep getting saved by other people…" She added quietly. Tai, Salamon and now Joe… why did people keep on having to save her?

"I can't…" Salamon admitted. "I'm too small and I can't swim that fast."

"But I can!" Gomamon growled as he jumped back into the water. The nautical creature swam fast but wasn't able to gain any ground on Seadramon. He drew a deep breath and dived under the water, turning around and swimming in the other direction.

Seadramon had been swimming in the same circle for a while now, so he might be able to catch him like that.

"Damnit." Izzy muttered to himself. "Can't you do anything?" He asked Tentomon, who shook his head. "My wings are wet, I can't fly…" He opened his wings and showed his soaked wings. "And I don't think Flymon can help either. Unless you want me to poison the entire lake."

Gomamon had made his way up to Seadramon. The rabid fish didn't even notice him until Gomamon bit down on his left fin. He screamed in pain and tried to shake him off but Gomamon refused to let go.

Joe noticed that his captor was slowing down and saw a white blur hanging off of Seadramon's fin. "Damnit Gomamon! Get out of here!" He yelled at all of them. "Save yourselves! Everybody run!!"

"Like that's going to happen!" Gomamon let go off Seadramon's fin. The sea dragon swam past him quickly.

"I said run! Now!" Joe tried again, only for his cries to be blocked out by a screeching sound coming from his digivice.

"That sound."Izzy's eyes shot open. "It's the same as before!"

* * *

Meanwhile underwater.

Gomamon's body was engulfed with a bright light.

"**Gomamon digivolved to…"**

The light took on a weird shape, one not expected from a mammal like digimon.

"**Ebidramon!!"**

Ebidramon swam up from the depths and jumped out of the water with a kick of his mighty tail.

Joe's mouth fell open as he saw the crustacean jump out of the water. Gomamon had become something that resembled a dragon more then a lobster, with armor plates covering his body and head, including many sharp looking fangs. But the most awesome were the scissors that were Ebidramon's main weapons.

Two non matching shears that could snap through steel with ease. One looked a lot like Kuwagamon's pincers, though in brown color now. It even had its own set of teeth!

"Payback time fishboy." Ebidramon clicked his claws threateningly. "Nobody threatens to kill my stick in the mud." Ebidramon's claws snapped around Seadramon's neck, nearly crushing the life out of him. Seadramon fought back with an Ice blast, freezing Ebidramon.

Though that didn't last longs as Ebidramon shrugged the ice off like it was nothing and continued to cut off Seadramon's air supply, until…

The blue dragon turned even bluer and dropped down into the water, unconscious. Ebdiramon hurried up and swam to his tail to free his companion, before Seadramon dragged him down to the depths with him.

* * *

"You did it! You did it!" Palmon yelled, waving her vine like arms in joy as the two warriors returned to the island. Joe still looked a bit uncomfortable on top of Ebidramon.

"What's the matter Joe?" Ebidramon asked.

"Oh nothing. It was just that I thought I was allergic to shellfish but here I am, sitting on top of the biggest lobster I've ever seen."

"Maybe you concurred your allergies." Ebidramon tried. "Oh wait, no sorry never mind."

Joe became pale. "What? What is it? Is it my skin? Oh not again!!"

Ebidramon laughed as he stepped onto land and dedigivolved. "Works every time!" Gomamon laughed.

* * *

The team caught their breath after such a battle. Even if the others weren't able to help Joe they were still exhausted from the events.

But Matt was the one that recovered fastest. And he asked the question that was on everybody's mind.

"Since when can you swim?" Matt asked.

"Wha?" Joe looked up from his seat on a plain rock.

"We all want to know." Sora backed Matt up. "Back in school you never attended swimming lessons."

"Oh that." Joe said. "Just because I'm allergic to chlorine doesn't mean I can't swim." Joe told them.

* * *

Morning came quickly and the digidestined had rested for as long as they could. Far, far away from the trolley in the middle of the lake.

Joe woke up to see Kari sitting next to him. "Oh, hi Kari." He said as he sat up.

"Hi Joe." Kari started. "Eh I wanted to thank you for saving me…" She said in a quiet voice. But Joe heard her. "No problem…" Joe told her. "Just don't fall into a lake again any time soon, okay?"

Kari nodded. She looked calm on the outside but she was raging on the inside. She hated being saved.

She didn't want anyone else getting hurt for her. Tai had nearly died saving her. Now Joe had some mild lacerations left from his battle with Seadramon.

"What's on your mind Kari?" Salamon asked.

"Nothing to worry about." Kari told her partner digimon. Salamon was around to be her friend and her protector. She had figured that out already. But Kari didn't want that. She didn't want anyone putting their lives on the line for her. Not anymore.

But for now she'd manage. After all this was a new day and perhaps now she and Salamon would be the one doing the saving.

She smiled at that thought.

* * *

Okay, so now you're wondering. Why the hell Ebidramon? For starters he's awesome. Seconds, his ultimate is even more awesome. And for some reason I find Joe, someone who is probably allergic to shell fish and all other kinds of seafood being teamed up with a lobster funny as hell.

Reviews

Martiny the one and only still: you haven't seen confusing yet my friend. And Gatomon and Agumon will stay the same. That is a promise.

PrincessJaded: I like writing Joe. He's awesome and way underrated.

Lord Pata: glad you liked that bit ;) and you're right. At last a Gatomon not influenced by Myotismon. I don't think I've ever read such a story, have you?

Aldamonburst: yup that's the one!

Crystalstorm: thanks for the link and you'll just have to wait and find out :)

Vigatus: sorry it took so long and it would be rather lame if that was the only change in the story

GRX3m0m: glad you liked it

nessa671: sorry it took so long

Marie ravenclaw: I do that too. Reading while I should be working on something that's probably important…

Firehedgehog: At least you found it eventually :)

Warrior of the Shadows: thanks

Corlimon: thank you and like I already said to my other reviewers, you'll have to wait and see. I don't like spoiling the surprise.

R&R people!


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